More Basel 2008 Impressions
As Evert wrote in the last blog, Rolex seems to be stealing the Basel show. According to TimeZone member Imrankhan, who visited the Basel 2008 show, the Rolex booth was flooded with impressive watches! He wrote an excellent report on Basel (including a lot of images) in the Basel Forum over at TimeZone.
Besides all the heavy weight of Rolex, also Omega had something to show. A nice looking white dial Speedmaster Professional wrist watch. Dedicated to the 1970 project called ‘ALASKA’. This project was initiated to develop an outer case for the Omega Speedmaster Professional to handle the extreme temperatures on the dark side of the Moon. A press release on this watch can be found here, posted by Jorge Merino.
Photo by Imrankhan @ TZ.
Another booth that seems to be impressive is the one of Patek Philippe. Probably the best brand out there, as you might know. I always favored the Patek Philippe World Time wrist watch in white gold. At Basel, the introduced the ref. 5131 model of this watch, featuring an enamel dial. It seems that enamel dials are ‘back in business’ again, as they were in the very early 1990s. Based on the copies of Chronos and Armband Uhren from that time.
And finally, Patek seems to care about people with decent wrists with this ref.5207. A 41mm wrist watch in platinum with a minute repeater, tourbillon and instant perpetual calendar with original windows, for which two patents are pending.
According to the press news by Jorge Merino on this wrist watch:
“The instant changing of all the date displays is a supplementary complication comprising 212 interacting components. This new exploit took more than five years to develop and is one of the brand?¢Ç¨Ñ¢s most complicated wristwatches. Only a few will be produced each year.
Movement is the hand-wound Patek caliber RTO27PSQI, a minute repeater with tourbillon, COSC-certified as a chronometer and with the Geneva Seal mark. ”
Still curious what the last two days will bring us….
